21 Murders | Harry Styles AU (discontinued)

VII. Eeriness

eeriness (adjective): uncanny, so as to inspire superstitious fear; weird:

Harry's POV

The shift in air from the open hallway to the stuffy, crammed office clogs my mind, the thoughts that once flew by so frequently and ever-so-easily now barely trekking on their voyage through my mind. My legs pace fast nonetheless, and soon the shrieking of the metal chair against the floor is the only sound echoing off the walls in the questioning room.

"Why am I here?" Mendy speaks up, catching me slightly off guard. More often than others - the person who sits in front of me on the other side of the table waits for my questions. But the once scared and afraid girl now calmly sits up, hands fumbling on her lap.

"I know it isn't for the alcohol and drugs,'' she cuts me off, my lips meeting in a fine line as she has more to say. "I might be intoxicated, but I am not that off the handle where I have no common sense whatsoever. This has something to do with Noelle, doesn't it?"

My eyes widen and I look into the darkness of her own; they shine dimly but not nearly as bright as Noelle's deep blue eyes. "Yes,'' I shake my head. "How'd you suppose?"

"I was one of her only friends in school,'' Mendy shrugs, picking at the cracked polish on her bitten nails. "Plus, I have been drunk before and never was brought into questioning for it. Ever since Noelle was pulled out of class the whole school has been talking about her."

"Is that out of the ordinary?" I raise a brow, ''Any more so than the other girls taken captive and killed?"

"You could say Noelle was... special." Is all Mendy replies, finally looking up into my eyes as she grabs my attention. "Most of the girls who had gone missing were party animals; they were reckless and drank every weekend. Noelle was never like that." The quick shake of her head tells me she isn't lying, and so does my intuition on the caring girl myself.

"What were the rumors about, exactly?" I ask. The room isn't so silent now, my heart beating wildly in my chest along with the tapping of Mendy's heels on the concrete flooring. I'd be surprised if you could hear a pin fall.

"It wasn't necessarily rumors,'' she claims. "It was just brought under a larger microscope considering she was a goody-goody with a squeaky clean record. Nothing stopped her from her grades and she didn't ever bother with socializing. It was out of the ordinary that someone picked her, because frankly, no one likes her."

Agitation boils in my veins at her words; I can picture a hurt girl standing on the other side of the glass window with her small fists tightly clenched and her lips absorbed into her mouth. Although this fact may be hurtful and Noelle might not want to hear it, it could possibly be a lead to why someone would do this to her.

"You liked her,'' I state, rehashing the conversation into a different angle. "Why was it that everyone else didn't, but you did?"

"Sophomore year." A faint smile paints her lips along with the red, smeared lipstick that remains chalked on even after all this time. "I was failing my classes and my parents were pissed. I was 'bout to get kicked out but she offered to help tutor me. After that, I got my grades up and I realized she wasn't the nerd everyone claimed she was. I miss her, truthfully. Haven't been able to contact her since the incident."

"I see,'' I speak, the agitation slipping mildly but still remaining and causing an inner battle of anger and confusion to stir up in my gut. "I need you to tell me about the night of her kidnapping. You were there - is what I've been told."

Our discussion continues more regularly as it turns into more of a catch-up; small details of the football game being brought up and more gossip, but nothing useful to my case until she brings up an unknown fact that we hadn't known earlier.